Method for forming a rail anchor with a positive applying stop



Nov. 27, 1956 M. K. RUPPERT METHOD FOR FORMING A RAIL ANCHOR WITH APOSITIVE APPLYING STOP 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. jpz o aer BY 1 a FiledMarch 31, 1950 II n Nov. 27, 1956 M. K. RUPPERT 2,771,570

METHOD FbR FORMING A RAIL ANCHOR WITH A POSITIVE APPLYING s'ToP FiledMarch 31, I950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent METHOD FOR FORMINGA RAIL ANCHOR WITH A POSITIVE APPLYING STOP Max K. Ruppert, Chicago,111., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Poor & Company, Chicago, Ill.,a corporation of Delaware Application March 31, 1950, Serial No. 153,1641 Claim. (Cl. 29-550) This invention relates to an improved method forforming a specific type of rail anchor device having a stop shoulder forpreventing overdriving of the anchor and thereby prevent overspreadingof the rail gripping jaws of the anchor during its application to arailway rail.

The present method makes use of the procedure heretofore known inconnection with the production of the general type of rail anchor hereinshown, but the several known steps have been modified by improvementswhich simplify the operations necessary to form the stop shoulders onthe anchor device, whereby the shoulder forming operations involve noappreciable additional expense and may be formed simultaneously with thegeneral breakdown and bending operations heretofore used in themanufacture of said general type of anchor device.

The invention is illustrated, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a base portion of a railroad rail supported ona rail supporting structure and provided with a rail anchor deviceconstructed, in accordance with this invention, and applied to saidbase;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the rail anchor shown in Fig. 1, the baseportion of the rail being shown in section;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 andillustrating the construction of the stop shoulders for limting theapplying movement of the anchor device;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a metal bar of T-shaped in cross section usedin forming the anchor device shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, inclusive;

Fig. 5 is a side view of the metal bar shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view showing die elements, in section, forperforming the initial or breakdown bending operation on the metal bar;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a machine forperforming the final bending operations to form the upper and lower jawsof the anchor; and

Fig. 8 illustrates the parts of the machine illustrated in Fig. 7 in thepositions which they assume when the metal bar is bent around an anvilto form the completed rail anchor.

The improved method herein disclosed is particularly adapted for formingthe rail anchor device shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings.Consequently, for a complete understanding of the invention, the anchordevice is shown herein in its operative position on a rail. The mainbody portion of the anchor is designated by the reference numeral 10 andthe numeral 11 designates a base portion of the railroad rail to whichthe rail anchor is applied. The said railroad rail is supported by meansof a crosstie 12 and a tie plate 13 which intervenes between the topsurface of the crosstie and the bottom surface of the rail base. The tieplate 13 as herein illustrated, is provided with spaced shoulders 14-14for defining a seat for the rail base and the plate is secured to thecrosstie 12 by means of suitable fastening devices 15. The fasteningdevices may be of any approved form and are illustrated herein asordinary track spikes which are driven into the underlying crosstiethrough square openings 16 formed in the tie plate.

The rail anchor device is formed from a rolled metal bar of T-shapedcross section, the bar being arranged so that the lateral arms 17-17provide a platform for engaging the bottom surface of the rail base andthe centrally disposed rib 18 of the bar provides a flat, vertical facefor abutting against a vertical face of the adjacent crosstie 12. Oneend of the main body 10 is bent into hook form to provide the anchorwith upper and lower jaws 19-20 which grip the top and bottom surfaces,respectively, of one flange of the rail base. The bend 21 for connectingthe upper jaw 19 with the lower jaw 20 is formed with a radius which isless than the overall thickness of the bar and the lower portion of thebend merges into the fiat upper surface 22 of the lower jaw 20 adjacentthe lower corner of the rail base. A pair of aligned but spaced apartshoulders 23-23 are formed on the inner face 24 of the bend so as toprovide vertical shoulder surfaces 25-25 adapted to abut against avertical edge surface of the rail base to limit the applying movement ofthe anchor.

When the anchor is in its applied position there is a substantialclearance 26 between the upper corner portion of the rail base and theoverlying jaw 19, the said jaw 19 being provided at its terminal endwith a bearing surface 27 for engaging the upper surface of a rail baseflange. The tail end of the body is offset to provide a locking shoulder28 having a vertical face 30 and is adapted to snap up into lockingengagement with the edge of the rail base flange 29 so as to hold thejaw end of the anchor in its tight gripping engagement on the rail.

According to the improved method for forming the rail anchor disclosedherein, the lateral arms 17-17 of the T-bar stock are pressed betweendies 31-32 (see 'Fig. 6) to form the bar with the said aligned butspaced apart shoulders 23-23 and simultaneously bend one end 41 of thebar upwardly to an inclined position. The other end of the bar is offsetduring this preliminary or breakdown operation, to form the lockingshoulder 28. The die 32 is formed with a recess to receive the verticalrib 18 of the bar, whereby the bar during the initial bending operationsrests on the lateral arms 17-17 and the vertical rib 18 is free tostretch in response to the bending forces applied. During this initialbending operation the metal of the lateral arms 17-17 of the bar isdisplaced to form the spaced apart shoulders 23-23, the displaced metalbeing pressed into a suitable recess 33 formed in the upper die 31. Itwill be observed, at this time, that the shoulders 23-23 are positionedon the inner or compression side of the hook forming bend. It will alsobe observed by inspection of Fig. 6 of the drawings, that the saidshoulders are formed immediately preceding the completion of thebreakdown operation. Consequently, the shape of the stop shoulders,formed during the breakdown operation, is not altered substantially bythe stretch of the metal during the breakdown operation or during thebending of the hook end of the anchor into its final configuration.After the breakdown operations are completed, the partly formed anchoris then removed from the dies 31-32 and is arranged in inverted positionon an anvil die 34 having an end 35 which is rounded to correspond tothe configuration of the hook end of the anchor. This portion of the dieis formed with a recess 36 which receives the offset stop shoulders23-23. The offset shoulder end 28 of the bar is firmly clamped to theanvil die structure 34 by means of a clamp device 28a (Fig. 6), whichdevice is constructed and operates substantially as shown and describedin the patent to Laurence A. Schneider 2,206,307, dated July 2, 1940.Thereafter a holding die 37 is moved downwardly into engagement with themain body portion of the anchor. A wing arm 38 pivoted at 39 on thedownwardly moving die is provided with a nose 40 which engages the endportion 41 of the T-bar and bends it around the curved portion 35 of theanvil die. The die 37 and the wing arm 38 are both formed with recesses42-43, respectively, which receive the outwardly extending central rib18 of the bar but do not apply any pressure thereto, the said rib beingfree to stretch lengthwise of the bar. When the presure die 37 assumesits lowermost position an inclined portion 44 thereof engages the outersurface of the arms 17-17 of the T at the location of the metaldisplacement for forming the stop shoulders 2323. The pressure appliedby said portion 44 during the final bending operation is intendedprincipally for the purpose of removing .any distortions in theshoulders which may have occurred during the bending of the bar aroundthe end 35 of the die 34 and for insuring the formation of a relativelysharp corner 45 at the junction of the vertical surface 25 of the stopshoulder and the fiat top surface 22 of the lower jaw 20. The Wing arm38 is provided with suitable rollers 46 which bear on a cam-shapedtrackway 47 during the downward and inward movements of the wing arm.

With the exception of the recesses 33 formed in die 31, the reces 36formed in die 34 and the inclined face 44 of die 37, the mechanism forbending the bar may be, and preferably is, the same in construction asillustrated in said Schneider Patent 2,206,307. However, the forming ofthe spaced apart, but aligned stop shoulders 2323 during the breakdownoperation (Fig. 6) is an improved step in the method of making anchordevices of this type, and it is this improved step in the method whichsimplifies the manufacture of the present anchor and makes itpracticable to form the improved anchor device on a commercialproduction basis.

For the purpose of making a full and clear disclosure of the improvedmethod herein claimed, the disclosure includes a full description of thestructure of the rail anchor device. However, the rail anchor device isnot claimed per se in the present application, since it forms a part of4 the subject matter disclosed and claimed in application Serial No.284,047 (Patent 2,717,740), filed April 24, 1952, as a continuation inpart of the present application.

I claim:

The method of forming a rail anchor of the one-piece hook-jaw type withstop shoulders on the curved inner surface of the hook portion of theanchor, the method including the steps of pressing a metal bar ofT-shape cross-section between breakdown dies to partially bend one endof the bar into hook form, the bending pressure being appliedexclusively'to the lateral arms of the T-bar, and one of said-dies beingformed with an open recess extending transversely of the bar, applyingmetal displacing pressure to the lateral arms only of the T-bar at thebend of the partially formed hook immediately preceding the completionof the breakdown operation to force metal of the lateral arms into saidrecess to form a pair of longitudinally aligned shoulders on the innerface of said partially formed hook, thereafter clamping the bar on ananvil die having a recess to receive said longitudinally alignedshoulders, applying bending pressure exclusively to the lateral arms ofthe bar to bend the partially bent end portion thereof around the anvildie, to complete the formation of the hook, and applying pressure to theouter surface of said lateral arms at the location of said shoulderssimultaneously with the completion of the hook forming operation so asto further press the shoulder portions into the last mentioned recess toremove any distortions formed in the shoulders as an incident to thenormal stretching of the metal during the bending of the bar around saidanvil die.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,371,288 Wolhaupter Mar. 15, 1921 2,078,710 Henggi Apr. 27, 19372,161,484 A Preston June 6, 1939 2,171,819 Warr Sept. 5, 1939 2,206,307Schneider July 2, 1940

